I am very concerned about my 25 year old son. He took his blood pressure with my wrist monitor yesterday evening and it registered 265/165. We do have a history of heart disease on both sides of the family. First question is how reliable are wrist monitors and should we really be concerned about the rate? He is discounting the wrist monitor as inaccurate and doesn’t believe his blood pressure is really that high. He refuses to see a doctor to get checked out just in case he does have a problem. He is married with 2 sons, and works for Nextel and is under a great deal of stress because of who he works for (he loves his job). He also is a junior high school soccer coach but his season is now over. As his mom, he feels I’m worrying too much about it. How do we convince him to check this out. By the way, he took his blood pressure before at my house, and it was high then too. Am I worrying too much?

Dr. Joshua’s Answer:

I agree with your son that the reading is probably inaccurate. A blood pressure of 265/165 would be a life-threatening hypertensive crisis and most likely would cause symptoms, and would require emergency treatment. If he feels fine, it is unlikely that the reading is correct.

However, the reading may suggest that he has hypertension. Given the family history of heart disease and his stressful job, it is essential that possible hypertension be treated. My recommendation is to have his blood pressure repeatedly measured by a reliable, certified blood pressure meter, and in addition to that, visit the doctor or nurse practitioner for measurement of blood pressure and evaluation of risk factors and current health. It’s a good idea to have a physical regularly anyway.